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Nine days in and finally I’m posting you a Happy 2017! I’m hoping for and wishing you all a year of love not hate, inclusion not exclusion, peace not war.

I can’t believe I haven’t posted since September last year.Baubles was published in November and is available in paperback and eBook if you fancy reading an interesting selection of short stories including mine, We’re Off To See The Wizard. Go on, you won’t regret it!

Late October we decided to move house in 2017. I have been preoccupied with that and you all know my inability to multi-task so the publishing date ofFailing Flynn Matthews has been delayed. It is about to be sent off for proof reading. Fingers crossed for a February publication date. I will be doing a cover reveal soon!

Meanwhile Ordering Flynn Matthews is still available on Amazon and has wonderful reviews. Thank you to everyone that has read it and also if you’ve taken the time to write a review. I really appreciate it.

Well I’m not doing very well at this social media presence am I? I’ve mentioned before I can’t multi-task so I won’t go on about it however what with having fun with family, writing, editing, working etc I haven’t found the time to tweet, post etc.

But behind the scenes exciting developments are afoot!

I’m doing the final edits to Failing Flynn Matthews so I am hoping that will be published soon! Ordering Flynn Matthews is making steady sales however I designed the cover and was not completely happy with it so I’ve been on the look out for a new one. I was lucky enough to come across a blog that recommended a few cover designers and that’s how I found James at GoOnWrite who has a wonderful selection of premade covers at very reasonable prices. He also does custom covers. Very quick in responding too, great service!

Gosh where to start! In November 2015 OFM was offered a publishing contract (yay!) with a US Indie, mainly ebook, publisher. They appear to have a wonderful set-up, great cover art, promotion and their authors seem very happy. I’ve signed contracts for my short stories before however this contract was more extensive. On the advice of my editor I applied to join Society of Authors and emailed the contract to them. Great piece of advice! They offer the service free although you pay to join – well worth it in my opinion. I didn’t have to wait long before I received a reply containing their valuable comments.

The SoA also queried if I’d considered self publishing as an option. The answer to that is no. In my head it was a last resort and here was a well respected organisation suggesting it as an option. With the reality of signing a contract scaring me with its deadlines and the fact I would lose a bit of control over my creation I started to give the idea serious consideration. And although the publisher was willing to negotiate the contract I declined their offer. Cue thoughts of have ‘I made the right decision?’

Having finished his PhD a couple of years ago my husband declared he is now ready for another project. He is researching what self publishing entails while I re-edit OFM. Can’t believe I’m still finding typos! Gutted I’m unable to attend the Ebook workshops the SoA have organised for March as it would’ve been extremely helpful.

One of my son’s housemates, Tom, is a design student who wants to extend his portfolio and has offered to do the cover art for the ebook. So the poor lad is currently reading OFM for inspiration. Not his usual reading material! It’ll be interesting what he comes up with. He says I don’t have to use it if I don’t like it bless him. I have a couple of ideas and two friends (thanks Carrie & Jenni) have made good suggestions too.

So it looks like I’m heading towards self publishing Ordering Flynn Matthews as an ebook. Who’d have thought it. I think it’s a beach read so the month of May seems like a good time to publish!

It doesn’t mean I’d never sign a publishing contract. It’s just at this time self publishing seems the way to go.

We’re looking at going to Rome this year which is a good thing as the follow up to OFM Failing Flynn Matthewsincludes a trip to the city and prior to writing I did my research virtually! Be good to check out my facts and take some photographs.

Ordering Flynn Matthews is based in London and Bristol – I’ve been to both of those cities 🙂

Cue flights of fancy of it being published with a gorgeous book cover (Choc Lit has amazing cover designs!), being made into a movie – the story really lends itself to the big screen, honest – doesn’t hurt to dream and hey in the spirit of the book and its main character Ellie I’m putting it out there in the hope of triggering the universe’s law of attraction and turning my dreams into reality!

My fellow shortlisters are lovely, accomplished and talented which doesn’t bode well for me!

Thanks to Carrie, John, Lydia and Sam for reading my stories and for their valued feedback! And thanks to my editor Debz Hobbs-Wyatt too!

The good news continued as a few days later I successfully interviewed for a job with a charity! Ten hours a week which works perfectly with writing. I’m looking forward to starting early April.

It’s years since I went on a march and with my Behcet’s under control I decided to become more proactive and move on from just being an armchair supporter of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and the Green Party. So February saw me join the Green Party and sign up for the Time to Act march for action on climate change in London on 7th March. My children are marching too, so my daughter and I will be meeting her uni student brother there. We went banner making in Bristol on Saturday and met some wonderful dedicated activists. We’re looking forward to next weekend!

My Blood Rain manuscript is currently with an agent. In anticipation of her liking it, channelling positivity, finally this month I edited the second novel in the trilogy, Blood Moon. I need to write the finale, Blood Stone – story outline written so I’ll get to that after I’ve finished my latest project.

So what have I done in the ten months since I last posted? Written three novels (80,000+ words each) that’s what! Whether they get published is immaterial (although it would be vindication for the time spent away from my family and all the burnt, late dinners!) I won’t give up writing. I get agitated if I don’t get time to write! It’s an addiction. It truly is.

Ordering Flynn Matthews is a stand alone novel however I have written a sequel Failing Flynn Matthews.I took a break from Flynn and wrote a romantic suspense novel No Blame – it’s dark and unlike my other novels has two points of view. Two weeks ago I completed Working Flynn Matthews.I’m resting all three for the moment. I will do another edit before sending them to my kindle for a read. I find it helps me with spotting typos and seeing if it flows like an actual book! After saving up the pennies I’ll send them to my editor Debz Hobbs-Wyatt who provides a wonderful service. In celebration of the first birthday of her debut novel she’s offering a limited number of reduced price in-depth novel critiques this December. So for anyone looking for a professional edit I can’t recommend her highly enough and her normal rates are very competitive too.

I have plenty of ideas for new stories and have started on my next project The Horse’s Head inspired by a gorgeous notebook (my weakness) I bought on a trip to Camden Market in the summer. It’s become our favourite market to frequent, slightly inconvenient considering we live in Somerset!